2023 "EleFootprints" Online Auction
Join us in celebrating World Elephant Day with this unique opportunity to bid on a wide range of unique gifts. Choose from beautiful wildlife-themed jewelry and home decorations, travel packages, signed memorabilia, and original artwork from our supporters around the world. Our founder Sangita Iyer has hand-picked many of the items from local artisans in India!
All funds raised during the "EleFootprints" online auction will support our programs, especially our ongoing project to feed the elephants of Odisha.
Register now to view our growing catalog and bid on items!
Tuesday August 1st @ 9 AM Eastern Time -
Tuesday August 15th @ 12 AM Eastern Time, 2023
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Asian elephants are an endangered species with only around 40,000 Asian elephants left on the planet, 27,000 of them in India - 60% of the world's Asian elephant population. However, the burgeoning human population, rampant development and climate change are all changing the Indian landscape dramatically.
Elephants have already lost 80% of their habitats to reckless development such as mining, electrocution, railways, roadways, and agriculture. Forest fires are also on the rise, most of them set off by arsonists and poachers to lure the wildlife and trap them. In the last ten years almost 1,200 elephants have been killed across India. And in the last three years 245 of them have been killed in the central state of Odisha state where mining is rampant.
Every penny raised during this fundraiser will serve to restore core elephant habitats in the central state of Odisha. VFAES is planting elephant friendly saplings and creating waterholes inside the forests of Telkoi-Pallahara forest range and the Khuldia-Hathgarh range, so elephants can graze safely and stay away from human habitats, thus averting tragedies.
The critical role of elephants in mitigating climate change has been elaborated in a study by the International Monetary Fund. It calculates the monetary and ecological value of one African forest elephant at $US 1.75 million in terms of carbon sequestration.
Climate change is borderless, and impacts all nations, including the USA that experienced historic storm surges and floods in Florida, Kentucky, Texas and other states. Therefore protecting these endangered megaherbivores is critical not only for the ecosystems in India, but also for countries around the world.